FM 2007
Hehe the latest iteration of Football Manager is out soon. Hot new features include a revised scouting system, increased player interaction with pre, halftime and post match teamtalks. You can also tap up players by praising them or console/berate your own striker who can seem to score. Feeder and parent club relationships are also an interesting new feature in the game, allowing you to send your players to/fro the respective club. For the feeder club, this means a cash incentive and a steady stream of players to loan in. For the parent club, a chance to give your youngsters some competitive action and possibly get the pick of some fresh young talent from another club as well.
The Gold Demo is already out and so far, I find it to be a fresh update on FM 2006. Only things that peeved me were the ball boys' inability to find the players when the ball goes out of bounds and the exaggerated player prices when a club obviously doesn't want to sell.
But the new scouting system might be good enough to actually do away with FM Scout once and for all. Each scout/coach has their own knowledge of various countries' players. So if you want to expand your horizons and discover some hidden Turkmenistani talent, you can send your scouts there, provided your board allows for such extravagances. Little things like watching your bench players warm up during the game are pretty cool as well as the many tips that flash across on loading screens.
The demo also seems to be pretty quick as well compared to older versions but then again, you can only run one country's leagues in the demo. Ease of use has also improved especially with options like multi select, so you can transfer list all the dead wood at once.
What's really great about the game is that all the new improvements come via suggestions from the FM playing community itself, which really helps Sports Interactive come up trumps in the world of football management sims.
